J.J. Abrams’ franchise reboot boldly went where no Star Trek movie has gone before, grossing a stellar $72.5 mil from Friday through Sunday, according to early estimates by Hollywood.com Box Office.
That’s the second-best opening of 2009 (after X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s $85.1 mil last weekend), and it includes a whopping $8.2 mil earned in IMAX showings, a new one-weekend record for the large format (beating The Dark Knight’s $6.3 mil). What’s more, if you add in the $4 mil that the movie starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto earned in late-Thursday showings, Star Trek has banked an impressive $76.5 mil so far — well ahead of most expectations.
This result is highly logical. Considering all the hype and buzz and strong reviews that Star Trek has garnered, it’s no surprise that this film’s opening sum is by far the biggest of any Star Trek movie: Of the nine previous flicks in the franchise, 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact bowed best, with (only) $30.7 mil over three days. Moreover, a look at the movie’s CinemaScore report card reveals some potentially good news. While it drew an expected crowd mostly composed of older males, Star Trek’s solid-A grade shows that word of mouth could be strong enough to bring in fans outside of the franchise’s usual demographic (i.e., people who weren’t alive in the 1980s…and women) as the weeks go on. Unless said folks are too distracted by Angels & Demons, Night at the Museum 2, and all the other big flicks on tap, of course.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (No. 2) was next with $27 mil on a 68 percent decline. Fanboy-driven films always fall hard, but this drop is particularly hefty. Nevertheless, Hugh Jackman’s franchise flick has already banked $129.6 mil in 10 days.
Fellow holdovers Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (No. 3 with $10.5 mil), Obsessed (No. 4 with $6.6 mil), and 17 Again (No. 5 with $4.4 mil) rounded out the top five. And the comedy Next Day Air failed to take off, grossing just $4 mil at No. 6.
And in limited release, neither Rudo y Cursi nor Little Ashes made much of a mark, as each averaged well under $7,000 per theater.
Overall, the box office was up nearly 22 percent from the same frame a year ago (when the infamous Speed Racer hit a bump in the road). And, really, what could be a better Mother’s Day gift than that? Love ya, Mom! Have a great day!
More Box Office News:
Box Office Preview: ‘Star Trek’ will rocket to No. 1…but can it beam up non-Trekkers?
Wolverine opens with an impressive $87 million
Obsessed knocks out the competition with $28.5 mil
17 Again handily wins the weekend
EW.com’s Box Office Chart
Comments (1-30) of 159 Add your comment
You say 72.5, the Associated press says 76.5. Which is it?
It didn’t beat X-Men on opening week? Ouch, that has to be disappointing.
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Great! It deserves it.
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It’s 76.5 with thursday showings, and Adam it’s not a disappointment seeing that the Trek reputation had been soiled by Nemesis and Enterprise.
hahahaahahhahahahahahahahahhahhahahahahahahahahaahhahaaahahahahahahahahha ouch!!! hahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahha WOLVRINE IS THIES YEARS IRONMAN!!!!
EW STOP HATING ON WOLVERINE!!!
72.5 for 3 day weekenr, 76.5 weekend + thursday previews (3.2 day).
Excellent numbers for Trk.
this just proves the there are more wolverine nerds than star trek nerds…
and for the record Wolverine the best action movie i have ever seen
tebow…what are you talking about?
its sad how star trek paid burger king to make their toys in the kids meal… i wouldve loved the Wolverine toys in the kids meal for my nephew
Wolverine just has more fans… and its by far the better movie
Trophywife…the best action movie you have ever seen? Can I recommend Aliens or Terminator 2 or Raiders of the Lost Ark or…
EW hated on wolverine and they worshiped star trek saying star trek is this years ironman…
but the people have spoken… Wolverine is this years Ironman!!!!
trophywife, Wolverine took a 68% drop this weekend. That’s a bigger drop than Watchmen took. How much is taken in opening weekend is attributed to hype and recieval of trailers. How the film does for the rest of it’s run tells if people actually enjoy the movie. Looking at this drop it seems like people don’t enjoy it.
WTF… aliens?? terminator 2??
NO!!! if ur next to a kid and ask him.. and he will say WOLVERINE HANDS DOWN BEST ACTION MOVIE EVER!!!!!
I am always astounded and amazed at the failure of box office prognosticators to gauge franchise films corectly. How can movies with years of fan base build up not perform well? As long as there’s A List talent involved and proper marketing of course.
there was more hype for star trek than wolverine..
and wolverine still beat it…
how bout them apples trek fans
Wolverine is just a badass movie
Wow, trophywife. Was your cranium transplanted with the brain of a ferret?
To Tebow and trophywife: Maybe if either of you had brains you’d realize that star trek is a much better movie then Wolverine. While wolverine focuses on mindless action, Star Trek focuses on plot and character development and still manages to have awesome action sequences. But I’m sure you’d rather just sit back and watch Hugh Jackman attack helicopters with his shiny metal claws.
EW you make me sick with this inaccurate reporting. Little Ashes made $6,417 per theater average. Rudo Y Cursi made $3,014 per theater average. That is over a $3,000 difference. Moreover, Little Ashes came in THIRD in per theater average this weekend. It did very well. Anyone who doesn’t realize that obviously shouldn’t be reporting this column for a living.
According to Box Office Mojo.com for Opening Films:
(Movie – # Theaters – $$ per theater)
1) Star Trek – 3849 – $18,836
2) X-Men Origins – 4102 – $6582
3) Little Ashes – 12 – $6417
4) Adoration – 10 – $4370
5) The Limits of Control – 11 – $4291
Hold your Horses – Little Ashes played at 12 theatres – only 12 and that works out at
Ranking by Average store theater sales
Movie # Theaters $$ per theater
Star Trek 3849 $18,836
X-Men Origins 4102 $6582
Little Ashes 12 $6417
Adoration 10 $4370
The Limits 11 $4291
of Contro
Other opening films per avg theater:
Next Day Air
1138 theaters $3,533 per theater
Star Trek
3849 theaters $18,863 per theater
Rudo y Cursi
70 theaters $3,014 per theater
Adoration
10 theaters $4,370 per theater
How to twist information,. EW makes me sick. Little ashes did well as it only played in 12 theatres
According to Box Office Mojo.com for Opening Films:
(Movie – # Theaters – $$ per theater)
1) Star Trek – 3849 – $18,836
2) X-Men Origins – 4102 – $6582
3) Little Ashes – 12 – $6417
4) Adoration – 10 – $4370
5) The Limits of Control – 11 – $4291
Wloverine did better because more people took their kids to see it, little kids know wolverine more than star trek. Wolverine was not that good compared to the regular xman movies. Star trek is a better movie, it just is. So what if it did better opening weekend, people thought it was gonna be huge, but a lot of people left the theater mad. I heard them all talking while i was leaving the theater. Stafr trek did less because most people that dont no star trek or never liked it wont want to go explore it. Thats all it is.
Wolverine = Ironman
Star Trek = Watchmen
WOLVERINE IS AWESOME!!!
Way to skew the article into a negative spin for an artistic independent like Little Ashes. For only opening in TWELVE theatres in the US, I’d say it beat the competition by more than half and it at least had a storyline and artistry.
Little Ashes did over 2x the average theater sales than Rudo y Cursi, and with almost no marketing. How can you lump those into the same catagory. If I was a small indie theater owner, I would obviously want the film that did double the sales.
ivious, let’s wait until next week to see how much Star Trek dips and then we’ll talk about which is the better movie. Wolverine is the next Iron Man? Since when?!
68% drop for Wolverine…ouch! (Though not surprising, it wasn’t that good) Wolverine may have won the opening weekend-battle, but I think Star Trek will be the one that emerges victorious in the long term, both critically and commercially.
Why do the box office analysts keep overlooking the real reason “Wolverine” has underperformed? It was really bad. With no positive word of mouth, good luck to that movie trying to make over $200 million. It has to be one of the biggest disappointments of the summer, both as a movie and as a money-maker.
heather,
since last week toots…
all im saying is that I love wolverine…
star trek was exposed
and for the record WOLVERINE RULES!!!
Wolverine will hit the 200 million mark c’mon guys… its the best action movie ever
star trek has a mediocre fan base and i will never change
WOLVERINE BEST ACTION MOVIE EVER!!